Chart Stalker: The Power of Indie

“Indie Rock” is kind of a stupid term. “Indie” technically is shorthand for “independent” (as in not distributed by a major label), but most people see the word “indie” and think “hipster”. This leads to a bit of confusion. I mean, The Mars Volta record for a major label, and technically, Taylor Hicks and Elliott Yamin are “indie”. It should also probably be noted that most indie companies are actually owned by major labels. So we should probably think of another word to use for non-mainstream music and toss the term “indie” out.

Anyway, the reason I bring this up is because Canadian band The Arcade Fire’s third album, “The Suburbs”, becomes the second independently-distributed album to debut at #1 on Billboard’s album chart in 2010 (following Vampire Weekend’s “Contra”). This isn’t TOTALLY a surprise, considering the Arcade Fire’s critically-acclaimed debut “Funeral” sold over 500,000 copies, and their sophomore effort “Neon Bible” charted in the Top 5. What’s more eye-popping to me is that out of the 5 albums that debut in this week’s Top 20, 4 of them are independently distributed. Arcade Fire are followed by Southern rap stalwart Bun B at #4, a new one from rockers Buckcherry at #10, and a live effort from the Black Crowes at #13. The only major-label release to infiltrate all those debuts is Lady GaGa’s remix album, which starts at #6.
There’s action on a few different Billboard charts in addition to the news on the albums list. Over on the singles chart, Taylor Swift pops onto the Hot 100 at #3 with her new single, “Mine”. The track is also the most downloaded song in the country with only 5 full days of sales. Taylor becomes only the second artist in history to have two songs debut in the Top 5 in a calendar year. The first artist to do that was Mariah Carey back in 1995, with “Fantasy” and “One Sweet Day”, both of which debuted at #1. Meanwhile, Linkin Park makes some noise over on the rock chart. Their new track, “The Catalyst”, explodes onto the Rock Singles chart at #1. It’s the first chart-topping debut on that chart in it’s entire history, and it puts an exclamation point on LP’s victory in the nu-metal sweepstakes, having commercially outlasted every other band that came up during that era.

Back to the album charts for a second, Train finally cracks the Top 20 with “Save Me, San Francisco”, which jumps into the #20 slot in it’s 39th chart week. There are also a few sales milestones in sight for some of this year’s hottest records. Eminem’s “Recovery” is a week away from being only the 2nd album this year to cross the 2 million sold mark, while Usher’s “Raymond v Raymond” should vault over the million mark next week. He will most likely be followed a week after that by Drake’s “Thank Me Later”.

Next week’s chart should be relatively quiet, with Eminem very likely being the only artist to cross the 100,000 sold barrier (again) with “Recovery”. The following week will bring a likely #1 debut from Ray LaMontagne, while Katy Perry’s new one hits stores the week after, officially shaking the charts out of their summer doldrums.

6 comments

Matt Bjorke says:

Aug 12, 2010

Hey,

Good thoughts here because technically Taylor Swift is an “Indie” artist her label is only distributed by UMG and is partners with Universal Republic for international distribution and pop radio promo (they also co own Republic Nashville). Hell, “Indie” is ‘major’ mainstream in Nashville these days. Jason Aldean’s “Indie” Toby Keith was until his label became co-venture with UMG cause they owed him millions, etc.

blerd says:

Aug 12, 2010

“Indie” should only be used for folks who sell records out of their damn car. If you’re aligned with a distributor, you are not truly “indie” because there is someone doing sales, marketing and distribution for you.

Swift is a baller, though I bet it was a little harder for Mariah to debut two songs in the top five in one year than it is for Swift with the iTunes factor. Then again, people actually went to the record stores in droves back in the mid 90s. I wonder how comparable the sales were for stuff like that?

What do we think Katy Perry is selling first week?

And how come I still can’t get a comment alert?

GG

blerd says:

Aug 12, 2010

iTunes now is what standard record sales were back in ’95. Same difference, really. I think the sales for singles pretty much match up on the top end, but they’re higher now on the lower end. Looks like Taylor actually got a lot of radio last week too.

I say Katy does anywhere from 200K-350K. She won’t do Eminem numbers. She doesn’t have the track record yet.

I don’t know about the comment alert. You have to talk to the webmaster. Webmaster??

jenniesaunt says:

Aug 15, 2010

Setting the record straight…
The latest recording by Taylor Hicks, “The Distance”, is on Modern Whomp Records (MWR) MWR is not owned by a major recording agency, but is owned by Mr Hicks.
Prior to Idol, Taylor Hicks did sell his CD’s, “In Your Time” and “Under the Radar” from his car. He has since re-released these on MWR as “Early Works”. Here’s a recent performance of “Soul Thing,” one of the cuts from “Early Works”

blerd says:

Aug 15, 2010

Taylor Hicks’ latest album, “The Distance”, was released on Modern Whomp Records, yes. He signed a deal with Rocket Science to sell the album. Rocket Science is currently distributed by RED, which is a division of Sony Music. Prior to that, it was distributed by Fontana Music, which is a division of Universal. MWR is owned by Mr. Hicks, yes. But the companies that distributed this particular album are both in bed with major labels.